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Another wonderful game from Aveyond! It is completely different than the previous Aveyond series, and doesn't follow that story, so if you're looking for that, this isn't it. It is a completely stand alone game, although there are many references to the previous games here.

The game is very fun to play - lots of side quests, some are in your quest journal, others you have to discover and remember to continue. All are worth doing, b/c (outside of the fact that it's just fun and gives you a challenge) you get some great rewards.

Each character is unique, and comes with their own personality and skills. I managed to get Boyle and Ingrid married. Next time, I'll chose another suitor!

One thing I really enjoyed was the story, and the humor. Very enjoyable. The artwork is wonderful too.

If I'd have anything negative to say, it's only that in the beginning, I felt like I was walking around incessantly. Once I opened up the mist portals, it got easier to get around.

A lovely game! Thank you!

edit: I finished the game in 31 hours, and all my characters were in the high 50s, 60s.

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I purchased the game without trying the demo version due to good experience with Aveyond games in the past. I really liked those games, playing them a couple times over. Here are my thoughts:

Characters: I liked Boyle, Robin, and Myst's characters, but that's where it ended. I didn't feel a connection to any of the other characters, and I really detested Ingrid...I just felt her character was so forced and became annoying after awhile. The character interactions were fun and witty at times, which I liked. Still, not up to the caliber of the characters from the first games. 6/10

Travel: This is what really bugged me. The Mist travel system was SO confusing and cumbersome. It took me many times going back and forth to figure out where to go. Generally the world was confusing. I think this could've been done a lot better. Also, walking was extremely slow and I felt it at times. A lot of back and forth quests. Some speed shoes would have been welcome. 3/10

Story: I really enjoyed the story for the most part, it was well planned out and I felt engaged with it. I felt Boyle's connection and concern for his dog, and Myst's concern for her brother. I wish they had taken a different direction than the forced marriage repeat, though. Also, my personal preference is more of the traditional adventurer's tale, as in the previous Aveyonds (royalty, mysterious powers, etc) and there was little of that here. I give the devs props for trying to be different, but frankly I liked the plots of the other games better. 8/10

Quests: The quests generally were engaging and fun, especially the Night's Watch quests. The Coven quests would have been better with less back and forth. My only complaint is that the journal could've been more detailed in where to go (I get some people like the guessing game, but I like being clear on directions). 9/10

Combat: Combat was fine except for the fact that 1) the white mage Hi'bertu wasn't that good and came late in the game(Myst's healing was limited), and 2) I felt that in the beginning of the game, the attacks from my side were very weak, and only by the end they had settled out. Often I had to rely solely on Myst in the beginning for attack power. Also I found Ingrid's transformation spells to be completely useless. Some bosses provided a fun challenge. 7/10

Graphics: The game looks very pretty at times (the starting areas mainly) and sometimes trended on the side of boring (many of the wooded areas). Sometimes the sprites looked too different from the background. 8/10

Performance: There was a lot of lagging at times. I'm not sure why as I have a graphics card. No rating.

Strategy Guide: Not great, the forums were much better. Just didn't include enough information on the general questline, although at the end of the guide there were details about items and such.

Overall: 6.8/10

The game was addicting and I enjoyed playing it, although it became tedious after awhile. Still, I have to agree with many here and I think the devs should've stuck more closely with the Aveyond world and formula. There's nothing wrong with trying something different, but I think those games resonated better with a lot of players including myself. This game has a lot going for it, in terms of quests, story, and characters, but it just doesn't reach the caliber of the previous iterations.

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Very much enjoyed the game, after waiting for it for so long. Most of my issues with it, I see have already been mentioned-ie-some lagging in the game, slow pace of walking, but overall, I had a lot of fun with it. Definitely would love to see a follow-up to see what happened to some of the characters-for instance the hint about Boyles past, what Robin and Myst discussed at their picnic at the end.

Fav characters were Boyle and Phye. It took me about 25-28 hours to finish the game-and I kept a save so I could see all three marriage endings plus the no marriage ending (rofl at that one). Tried it first in easy mode, characters were between 65-70 by the time I used all my level eggs. Loved seeing the new areas but did miss going to Thais like in the previous games-but can understand if it's a different part of Aia-would be kinda hard to incorporate. Overall, great game, thanks to the creators, and can't wait to see the next one! Maybe a mini-game to keep us going until AV5 comes out.

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I've been lurking these forums for a (very) long time without an account or posting, but I just finished AV4 and I simply had to make an account to post my review for it. (This is going to be very long, I apologise!)

I've been playing AV since AV2 came out (I was 10 years old then; I've basically grown up with these games). AV1 remained my favourite for a very long time (I was very attached to Rhen...), with AV3 my second favourite and AV2 my least, but I loved all of them and more importantly, I loved the universe. The first 3 games of AV are, however, mostly plot driven.

AV4 is a world away from this, and it's the best thing that ever happened to this series. It is now probably my favourite AV game.

The absolute selling point of AV4 is its characters. The plot is wonderfully paced and avoids some cliches that the old games embrace with (too much) abandon (although AV4 still includes them when it's beneficial for the humour), but that really isn't the gem in the crown for AV4. The old games' weakness, whilst I love their characters (except for those of AV2, who I didn't really get attached to), was always the characterisation, but AV4 has solved this and then some. The characters are hilarious, have good dynamics, are your 'average joes' with flaws alongside their world-saving powers, and are very gripping. I couldn't hold a bad word against AV4's characters, and that's always what the AV series needed to improve. I'm so glad that this was achieved.

The graphics and world design are also a significant improvement, although I will admit that it was strange to jump straight into AV4 from a re-play of the final chapter of AV3 as the movement is so different (and so much slower)! Sometimes some objects/enemies didn't quite fit with their backgrounds, but I've seen worse instances of this. My main point would be that there were some instances were you couldn't move where there was no reason as to why you couldn't, but they were rare occasions. I didn't experience any lag on my setup, but there was a bug or two.

As ever, the soundtrack is awesome.

I have to say that the menu was my main annoyance. It took me a very long time to find Ingrid's attraction point monitor (why are they under 'Witchery'?!) and it was unnecessarily complicated compared to previous games (AV3 probably has the most intuitive menu system, if I remember correctly). Also, I may have just never worked it out but you couldn't bulk buy, as far as I could tell? Kinda annoying when you're trying to buy 100 demon biscuits to be honest...

The travel system is a marked improvement on the MME (good lord... the MME.... the actual bane of my life), but it doesn't quite compare to the runes in AV1 (although, technically those are a cheat, so I can understand why haha). My only complaint would be how slow the boat is (also, I miss the dragons!). A world map (or mist map) is most definitely needed to really hone the mists, but I didn't find it as difficult to navigate as people are suggesting (once I'd learnt where Tor/Halaina were, everything pretty much clicked into place).

The game was shorter than others predicted and I was slightly disappointed by the length (it only took me 20 hours, with all side quests completed and without goodie caves). I found that the combat was pretty easy in some places but ridiculously hard in others, so a bit of balancing could do the game a favour. The end fight was challenging (as was the end tournament fight in Tor), however, which I welcomed after some very easy end fights in the other AV games.

Whilst the game hails back to many aspects of the old games (Hercules, the squirrels, Tei'jal and Galahad, the Pendragon allusion), I actually think this is a game that could be recommended to a player entirely new to this series. In fact, I think that's exactly what I'd do. This game doesn't have the needless melodrama and instances of poor characterisation of AVs 1, 2 and 3 that really needs a sense of loyalty to sit through sometimes. AV4 is enjoyable in and of itself and there's never a moment where I rolled my eyes at the dialogue.

My verdict overall: A lot of people are criticising the game for not sticking to the old AV mould, but I think that may be missing the point. AV4 is a much needed refreshment of an old, nostalgic rpg. It would be awesome to see our characters travel back to the old areas of AV (Thais, especially), and to have a more grand plot as we did in the old games, but that can wait for the next game. I didn't feel as if I particularly missed those old zones whilst playing AV4, because AV4 is meant to beand should be different to the others. AV4 leaves behind the focus on 'saving the world' for a group of characters who almost save the world by accident, and that is far more entertaining. It retained enough old elements to be identifiable as AV, but brought in plenty of new ones, and that is what I appreciated from AV4; it was something new from this series, that I have loved so very dearly through my childhood.

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I just finished the game, and I absolutely loved it! It had all the elements I liked from the previous Aveyond games, and added features that made it even better.

Time: I finished it in about 40 hours.Favourite characters: Hi'Beru and Myst. I really like their mysterious and interesting personalities.Favourite area: AveyondCharacters for end battle: Boyle, Rowen, Myst, Hi'Beru.

What I like most about Aveyond 4 are the different characters. I feel like each character has an important place in this game, and a unique personality. I love how they all have their own story and develop during the game. This is what I think of each character:Boyle: before the game came out, I didn’t really like the idea of playing as a villain. However, that changed when actually playing the game. Playing as a villain, instead of a perfect character, made it so much more interesting. I loved how he changes during the game, and how funny he is.Myst: great character. I love how mysterious and sensitive she is, and strong at the same time. Nice interaction with Boyle (the part with the cage was so funny). She was also one of my favourite characters for battle, as she is a strong fighter as well as a good healer.Robin: my favourite part of this character is that he can team up with other characters in battle. This adds an extra dimension to creating a party, as the other characters in the party influence Robins skills. The Nightwatch with Myst was great as well. I like how this creates a smaller side-story within the main story.Rowen: when she first joined the party, I didn’t use her that much. However, that changed when I found out about the sword singer thing, as the sword singer skills were very useful in battle. I liked her tools as well.Hi’Beru: this was probably my favourite character in the game. I like his dreamy, mysterious personality (and how it annoys Ingrid), and enjoyed the quests in the dream realm. The only thing I didn’t like was that his healing doesn’t automatically go first in battle (whereas Mysts soothing does). Because of this I used Myst as much as a healer as Hi’Beru (to avoid characters getting killed before Hi’Bery could heal them). Ingrid: another awesome character. I loved the potion making, and also like how she can choose a coven to join. I joined the shapeshifters coven, and thought this added a lot of interesting aspects to the battles.Phye: this was my least favourite character, but I did like the whole story around him, of being the only one that escaped slavery, and saving the others. The skill that he gives to Robin is great in battles as well.

I think the battle system is a great improvement compared to the previous Aveyond games. It is so much more interesting, and it is fun to try different party combinations.

I also laughed a lot during this game. It has so much humour in it, and the interactions between the characters are really funny as well.

Lastly, the areas look amazing, and the music really fits with the different areas. I liked how they are new, unique areas, rather than areas that are very similar to those in previous Aveyond games.

In conclusion, I am very positive about this game. It was a lot better than what I was hoping before the game came out. Thanks for creating it! I will be replaying it many times.

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I have only played for a good 6 hours, but just wanted to say what a treasure this game is. The combination of Amaranth's Aveyond style plus the humour that John Wizard always injects into his games is priceless.

I love this game. It has everything I want in a game: quests galore, humour, beautiful graphics, and - most important for me - you don't fight your way through the game non-stop with little else to do in between.

--- --- ---

Edited to add: I have now played a good 18 hours and am still loving this game. I love the way I can transport through the mist, and I love the different quests, all of which are fun to do. I also like the night-time mode - really nicely done.

I have come across a couple of glitches, but nothing major, and nothing I couldn't have prevented in the first place had I not done what I did, like when the first time I wanted to give Boyle some armour that wasn't actually for him. The game then just closed. But I just got back in and was able to continue.

Thank you so much for this fun and entertaining game.

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I have loved the Aveyond games-all of them-until now. I read a post earlier that this is a John Wizard game and I agree. It seems so unlike the other Aveyond games I have played. There are too many quests and very few of them seem to follow in any particular order to contribute to the story line. I have been looking for 3 days now to find the demon caves. I have the sulphur and I found the cave once and was soundly beaten. I always save before a fight in case I am soundly trounced and in this instance I was. I started the game again from my save point and I cannot find the cave again. I am sorely disappointed.

Also, as noted by another player "The one thing that really ruined the game's enjoyment for me was getting from place to place. It was simply too complicated and burdensome.... I'm having trouble forcing myself to finish the game and am fairly positive I won't be replaying it."

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This latest Aveyond game took me about two or three days to finish playing a bit every day. I enjoyed it for the most part it wasn't very satisfying. I loved Rhen's quest, and honestly found Ean's quest a bit depressing for some reason. I loved mell's games; I found the humor, game play, music and features fantastic, but playing this game felt like a step backward. This version does not have the normal Aveyond "feel" to it. It has the Aveyond references that you'd expect, but not it's heart. It has little in common with the main games. Thais has been in every Aveyond game except this, and the only reference to the city in this was way at the end.

The style for the character icons felt like a huge step back and unlike the previous games i didn't really care for any of the characters, most felt as useless as mad marge from the first game, they had one moment of screen time but did very little afterwards.There were s ome minor characters that i felt deserved more interaction like Ellie , i was even hoping she would join the team!

I didn't like allot of the background music/sound, it didn't pull me in like in previous games and there was very little music/backgound noise in the different levels.Overall, the game felt anti-climatic and unfinished. I hope there is a sequel, especially due to the end (Prince of Thais) reference.

It wasn't all bad of course, i loved the humor that was in it and was very happy to see Te'ijal and Galahad, loved the squirrels as always, loved it when the squirrels took over Halaina, loved the return of the elder tree, though i wish the joke about the poor petrified elf prince continued in this game. I got a kick out of spotting anime look a likes like the princess looked like chii from chobitz. But i just wasn't as satisfied by this game as i was with the previous ones. I know they put their time and effort into this game and i hate to say anything negitive about it as i love the aveyond series and amaranth games and i know its not like my opinions hold any weight but i felt like i needed to say all of this.

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I have really enjoyed the game so far, think I'm quite close to the end by now. Love the story and the gameplay has been very fun.

However, there's some little aspects that annoy me about the gameplay. For example, combat sequence. There seems to be no way for me to tell who will do their ability first. Is it random? I've only noticed that item using and mysts healing spell seem to always go before anything else. Other than that I can't plan ahead very well.

This wouldn't affect me usually, but I wanted to try hiberus book of saviors. Embolden, the buff that gives a party member guaranteed critical their next turn. That's freaking great, first time I tried it, I managed to combine it with Boyles Devastate. But then I casted it on Ingrid and she casted her spell before Hiberu buffed her. Not only that, Ingrid lost the buff before next ability selection phase (or whatever) and the buff was wasted(?)

So is there really no way to tell the turn sequence?

Also, this is very minor problem, which is related to Ingrid and her mind control spell. The way I understand it, the enemy will attack other enemies, including self, until they take damage. Seems fair, since they often free themselves by attacking themselves. But to have the spell be useful, you have to limit rest of the party quite a bit. No multitarget attacks or random attacks. And the worst one, Boyles minions. I had to actually have Boyle use no minions so I could make use of Ingrids mindcontrol, since the minions would often break it before the targets turn came.

Nevertheless, I've enjoyed the game so far. Almost finished. Will definitely take a look at your other games inspired by this. Thanks!

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I hope it's OK to make a second review. I wanted to be sure that the devs see it, rather than editing my first review, and it's not seen:

I have now played for just under 30 hours, and am still not at the end. Of course, if it hadn't been for Pokemon's wonderfully detailed guide through the dungeon, the game would have ended here for me. I could not have done it without his help.

Anyway, this is the most wonderful, rich in story, quest-heavy (good) game with wonderful music and beautiful graphics, I have ever played. And I love the added cheekies. How cute is that?

I am not one of those hard-core RP gamers who love nothing better than fighting their way through a game. I prefer the game to be heavy on the story and light on fights.

And this game is it.

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I've played AV4 three times and have enjoyed it each time as there are some variations on how it could end. I can't say it's the worst but not the best game either. My main issues is that in some locations the walking seemed a little slow and sometimes a little jerky and the transportation system through the mist is a might confusing. Of course,as I said it's not the worst game of the Aveyond series. I'm also a little curious as to who Boyle actually is-I've got an idea-but it would be cool to possibly find out in the next game?!?

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After playing for about 40 hours, I have now finally finished the game. (big thumb-up)

Towards the end, I chose Boyle (level 60), Robin (level 60), Rowen (level 56), and Phye (level 54). The combination fights of Robin and Rowen and Robin and Phye were really very good.

However, I was surprised that despite the fact that I had all the best armour and weapons, I still found those skulls up on Skull Mountain on the way to the end game incredibly tough. I would have thought that they would have been easier and quicker to kill.

I loved the ending. A bit long, but very funny.

I can honestly say that this is the best RPG I have ever played. There is so much to do, so many things to see, and the variety of tasks and quests made this a game unique. I never was bored for a minute, and I can't say the same about other RPGs.

Pretty much at the beginning of the game there was the glitch that closed down the game when I gave Boyle a wrong armour. After that, I never came across any other problems. The game played flawless for me.

What I really liked, and what was very useful, was that if I needed to heal someone while in battle mode, that was always dealt with before the actual fight started. So whoever did the healing was always the character to do their move before anyone else. In other games someone might only use the healing potion or spell after the enemy has already dealt with the character who was in need of healing, and killed him or her. (I hope this made sense, I am not good at explaining things).

The one thing I would have liked to see differently is the walking speed of my character(s). At times, when I had to go here and back there, I wished I could have walked a little faster, but that was the only thing I would have liked to see differently.

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I hope my review would help you improve. I have played all sequels of Aveyond. I'm a great fan of its heroic, romantic and adventurous stories. I like aveyond 2: Ian and iya's quest the most. BUT I didn't like Aveyond 4:The Shadow of the Mist :mellow: . It was not like AVEYOND at all. It resembled some john wizard's games such as dawn's light series. All characters are trivial and not serious or romantic. I felt something missing in this aveyond 4 which other aveyond series have... I hope the next installment will bring back the old adventurous AVEYOND. I like the Amaranth style more than John wizard style.

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Pros: *Takes you on a comical fantasy adventure. *You'll end up with 6 playable characters in your party, so you can change & customize your play style. *The music has always been great in Aveyond games. *The background ambiance in each zone is soothing. *The zones have unique designs & labyrinthine layouts. *First time an Aveyond game never aggravated my Carpal Tunnel. *I didn't feel as lost in this game. A lot of RPGs with backtracking aren't concise with their directions. *I can feel & see all the improvements the development team has made throughout the series since I first played Ahriman's Prophecy in 2005. *The series lore. I love figuring out how the different Aveyond stories connect to eachother. while I was introduced to Aveyond & The Elder Scrolls the same exact year, I'd have to say the Aveyond games hold a bigger place in my heart. I hope this series goes on & on. *I loved the "Night Watch" story-within-a-story..

*40+ hours of gameplay.

Cons: (Contain spoilers) *The character designs stretch out unflatteringly at 1980x1020, like the way old TV shows do on modern TVs. *The Bigfish version has an annoying habit of always opening up in windowed mode every time. *Busybeak Hills, Divisive Thicket, & Mudsludge Swamp were all underutilized. *Boyle should have been in his 40s. He looks way older than 30, he acts middle aged, & he's a parental figure for Robin. *Introducing Phye to your party JUST before the game ends is kinda cruel. *Making Phye & Hi'beru potential love interests for Ingrid was pointless. Phye & Ingrid never speak to eachother. Hi'beru has more chemistry with Rowen.

*Continuity error with older games in the series, in which witches had actually been PROUD of being ugly.

There were a few cute cases of "I see what you did there."

Why, hello there, Utena.

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I have an honest review about AV4. I posted a long meta about it in my blog, but I'll post a shorter version of it here. Before you read, please note that every word I write is based on my gameplay and also from the heart; I mean it wholeheartedly, I don't mean to offend anybody and criticise anything.

I'll start with the things I didn't like about AV4.

Negative

1. I'm going to go with the no. 1 thing that irked me the most: (highlight to read spoiler)

The Final Boss. WHY? Why Hercules? Why him? Why? He is the most annoying character, EVER. I really disliked him in AV3 and when I found out he was AV4's big baddie,I just... sort of tuned out. I was so disappointed. I really, really dislike him. If only AV4's big baddie was someone new and unknown, like Mordred Darkthrop.

2. Journal/ Quests

- Quests were branched out too much and it got complicated very fast.

- The Journal, on the other hand, was not clear enough. For eg: in AV1, "Save the world from Ahriman" was constantly there and was drilled into your mind the entire game.

In AV4, however, it was "Boyle's Redemption". So... what exactly was Boyle's Redemption? I just find it... a bit unclear. And referring to what I said about the quests, once it branched out too much and by the time I got back to my actual quest, I was lost, like, wait who am I supposed to save again?/ who was I supposed to fight again?

At one point I seriously thought the main, main, main quest was to find Fang (because the plot seemed to keep coming back to Fang) and when I found him early in the game, I was confused "Hang on... this can't be right".

3. Plot

- I don't know, but the game lacked something somehow, lacked what AV1/2/3(1-3) had (note that I left out AV3-4 because AV3-4's plot made so sense whatsoever considering it's part of the Orbs of Magic series)

- Plot hole? (highlight to read spoiler)

It is hinted that Boyle is a Pendragon. Ingrid asks him what his last name is, and he goes all flustery and says "...the Horrible...?"

Now I found this weird because, isn't he Boyle Wolfbane? If he had answered "... Boyle Wolfbane...?" and I would've nodded and gone " Ahhhh.... nice twist, nicely played Amaranth Games, nicely played." but because he answered "the Horrible", it just didn't make sense, context-wise. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this? Would love some input.

4. Closure/ Ending

- I loved the cutscenes; I swear, I do. I love it in all the previous Aveyonds. And I loved them in AV4.

But, but... I felt a bit let down when I realised we couldn't play the game anymore. In the previous games after defeating the baddie, we could still walk around and interact and get different endings and choose our destinies and there were even the "epilogues", something about Mel marrying Edward/Lars the 8th or "Rhen did not marry Lars, or maybe she did".

I, for one, LOVED those epilogues and loved playing a while more to complete my side quests before ending the game. For me, that was the "denial" stage. "What? No, I have yet to complete the game, what ARE you talking about? Look at these side quests!" even though I've defeated the baddie.

AV4 ended so abruptly I almost cried. It was like a smack to the face. I literally sat in my chair, mouth open, saying, "Wait... wait!! That's it? No!!!"

I'd like repeat myself; it's not that I didn't like the cutscenes, I LOVED them (in fact AV1, 2 and 3 do not have enough cutscenes hehe) I just felt it ended too abruptly.

5. Final Battle Music (this is personal preference)

- I am a huge fan of each and every Aveyond's final boss music. That's one of the main things I look forward to when I play the AV series, to be honest. To my surprise, it was just Boyle's Theme, which was played throughout the game here and there. Lol it felt a bit anti-climatic.

6. It did not feel like Aveyond.

- If you asked me to describe why I said it didn't feel like Aveyond, I, honestly, am not able to answer, because I don't know. But it just... didn't feel like Aveyond.

- It's called Aveyond 4, but had hardly any Aveyond in it lol at least in AV1 it was constant, and it least in AV3 it had a "shadow" version which was so cool... (forgot what's Aveyond's role in AV2)

Anyways, now on to what I loved about the game!

Positive

1. Character Backstories / Development

- It was amazinggggg in AV4. So rich, so detailed, it made me do something I never did before for the other AV games; it made actually CARE for ALL of the characters in the party, equally! (sorry Haddan, Mad Marge, Emma, Ulf) And for the first time I was seriously sad that I couldn't have ALL of them in my party at the same time (darn you, limited space of 4 characters, haha)

- Rowen's backstory was my favourite. She intrigued me and made me crave for more of her story, why is she doing this? What's that? What's this? I was weepy throughout her arc and was so happy to see a happy cutscene of her at the end.

- I love Myst and Ingrid's dynamic, like how Ingrid's mischief seemed to be rubbing off on Myst heehee! What a treat!

- Robin made me laugh the most. He was so... innocent, so hilarious, the idea of him is just adorable. His actions and reactions really spiced up the game for me. He was valiant and it was adorable, it made me want to squish him, as opposed to AV1's valiant Galahad, where I rolled my eyes ( High five, Lars!) and I could barely tolerate him.

- Now out all of all the AV games I've played, I am a HUGEST fan of AV1, mainly because of the interactions. AV4 did not top it, but was very close. I, for one, love Rowen and Hi'beru's interactions a lot. I really did. So weepy, like I said, during Rowen's arc. Also, I loved Ingrid and Te'ijal's EXTREMELY SHORT CONVERSATION >

- I enjoyed Robin and Myst's friendship. I found myself going "Aww..." a lot of times during the game.

3. Concept / Design

YOU GUYS OUTDID YOURSELVES~!

- THE MENU! Equipment, Profile, Save etc. It was a bit hard to get used to in the beginning but when I got used to it, wow! Just wow! (Scripting it must've been a huge pain!)

- I loved it so much, I even wish it was the same for AV1! So I made this to comfort myself, haha!

- I loved all of the character designs; they were beautiful, detailed, fresh and eye catching. Kudos to the artist! Again, I wish that AV1 had the same thing, then perhaps we'll get to see the details on Lars'/Dameon's outfits, and also Elini *.*

- Also how cool was the battle system? Different angles and different situations, certain powers/spells had to wait 2/3 3 turns before being casted again. Also loved the idea of Robin pairing up; when I had him, Myst and Phye together, they were unstoppable!

4. Puns/Jokes/ 4th Wall

- As per usual, Aveyond didn't fail at this aspect. I can't remember much now, but they were extremely funny. One I clearly remember was after joining the Night Watch, and Banana Boy was saying something about "you can check your night watch status in your profile menu" or something like that... and then continues on to say something like "although, I've been trying to figure out what profile menu means". I remember this well because I actually burst out laughing. They broke the 4th wall! I loved it.

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Yikes, I didn't mean for it to be so long! Anyways, that's my take on AV4! Overall it's a good game and I'm going green for this clocked at 31 hours and with my members being around level 50+.

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It is hinted that Boyle is a Pendragon. Ingrid asks him what his last name is, and he goes all flustery and says "...the Horrible...?"

Now I found this weird because, isn't he Boyle Wolfbane? If he had answered "... Boyle Wolfbane...?" and I would've nodded and gone " Ahhhh.... nice twist, nicely played Amaranth Games, nicely played." but because he answered "the Horrible", it just didn't make sense, context-wise. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this? Would love some input.

"The Horrible" is what Boyle was called as a villain - he's referred to as Boyle the Horrible a few times during the game by people who recognize him. Wolfbane is the name he gave himself when he killed Fang's mother; it's not his real last name any more than "the Horrible" is. Since both are really only titles, he could have used either one in answering Ingrid, but using "the Horrible" makes it more obvious that he doesn't want anyone to know what his name really is. (Or possibly that he doesn't even know, though I personally doubt that.)

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I did not know what to expect before I played this and, frankly, when I played the demo in November, it somehow felt like a huge downer. I was skeptical towards the plot, thinking that the unraveling of the story might come out rough and forced. A retired villain doing a hero's job? That's gotta be far too quirky. It took me three months after playing the demo to decide on buying it. The only regret I feel after finishing this game is not buying it sooner.

Stats: 26 hrs, lvl 57-61.

Art: Gods, I just love the art! The details on the outfits and the characters' faces were sublime. They were all so cute and expressive, I kinda wish it was the same for all the Aveyond games. Even their status display during battle was superb, especially Robin's. His background was transparent at first, but it was filled up with the progression of the story. I must say that the art was just as beautifully detailed as the entire game itself.

Music: Superb as always, and nostalgic when needed be. The music of Aveyond is one big reason why I love the game series. The new pieces were very enjoyable, and I love how old pieces play in the right moments. When the music from Aveyond 3 played along with Galahad's appearance in the game, I felt exuberant and nostalgic at the same time. My absolute favorite piece is the theme at night because it reminds me of Shaenlir and the Spire Mountains.

UI: I had difficulties in this department. I was playing on my laptop and it had to be plugged in while I play this game; otherwise, the game is laggy and slow. The character portraits were awesome, but I kinda question their necessity when delivering dialogues because I had some problems with it. Sometimes, when Ingrid returns from her house, her translucent portrait lingers on the screen and remains even when I go from one area to another. I only get her portrait to disappear when I talk to someone else and a dialogue box appears. I really like the teleport/transport system though. Going through the Mist Realm makes a lot more sense than the Magic Mirrors, not to mention those moving rocks and treasures were so much fun. The menu gets a huge thumbs up though, especially with the categorization of the items. It's just a bit tedious when it comes to the equipment, particularly when I want to check its stats. I absolutely love the changing of the theme color per character!

Battle/Character Skills: Whoa, I was too used to having a healer, mage, warrior, rogue lineup for battle that I was at a loss upon playing the game. I kept switching between party sets while playing and it was not a bad thing at all. All of them had valuable skills and the choice was only up to which skills the player is comfortable using. It's great that all of the characters were properly utilized in battle throughout the game, making it a must for the player to get the best for all of them when shopping for equipment. In the end, I settled with Boyle, Myst, Robin and Rowen(sword singer) in the party because it seemed to me that the healing and damage they deal are quite even.

Story: As I've mentioned before, I was a huge skeptic on how this "evil turned good" plot would be executed in the game. Far from what I expected though, the transition was very smooth and none of it felt forced at all. From the beginning of the story, you can see that Boyle is not completely evil like the Aveyond villains we have all encountered. I just gotta love the roundness of the picture painted for Boyle's character. In fact, everyone in the party has more than one side to their personality thanks to how detailed the story was presented. Their interactions felt real and easy to relate with, making it difficult for me to pick a favorite among them. The sense of belonging that I felt while playing this game exceeded that of the previous ones. The story and the characters just seem closer to heart. It wasn't difficult for me to get involved in finding a lost dog, rescuing a sibling, returning to a hometown or simply learning and looking for a match in this world. Among the plots of all the Aveyond games, this is the one I love most.

Other notes: The areas and the puzzles were very well-made. The dungeon maze/puzzle was excellent. It's easily the most intelligent puzzle in all of the Aveyond Series in my opinion. I love the references to previous Aveyond games, or "throwback" as I like to call them. Galahad was a pleasant surprise. I knew I'd meet him and Te'ijal in the game but the reveal in the Shadow Isles had me internally screaming like a madman. It just bothers me that I never got to return his sword after I tried so hard not to sell it. The other references were so much fun as well, particularly the anime sprites ( I call Windshire "Hetalia Town"), the GoT reference and the Stargazer 'abduction'.

I say this game is "refreshingly detailed" because of how its attention to detail in all aspects of the game makes it pleasantly different from the other Aveyond games. In my opinion, this game is the most independent in the Aveyond series in the sense that you can recommend 'Shadow of the Mist' to someone who hasn't played any Aveyond game before. Two weeks ago I don't think I would ever say this, but Aveyond 4: Shadow of the Mist is, by far, the best one in the Aveyond series. Kudos to everyone who contributed in the making of this game!

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I just completed it yesterday (after taking a break because I didn't want to finish it knowing that it would be over) Really amazingly well done. Took me 25 hours. A little short for my liking but great overall

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Fantastic game! I loved the ending it was better than the game. I chose to have Bolye and Ingrid to marry. It took 35 hours to play. The only bad thing is that the game ran slow. In place where there was a lot going on. The guide could use some more detail and maps would be helpful. Now that I finished it I will go back and play the whole series again.

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This issue has prevented me from completing this game. The improved graphics from this game, although is very good (good job on that!!), has made this game somewhat unplayable for me. It has been one of my "things to look out for" when playing RPG games like Aveyond.

Sure, it might be that some people's systems are quite old and can't handle this improved game, but it was not the case for me. I made sure to look at the system requirements first before installing this game. My computer passed with flying colors, and then some! So it's definitely not entirely those old system's fault for not carrying this game quite well.

The tediousness of some quests and more importantly, the LACK OF MAPS, doesn't help that this game's speed is seriously on the bad side.

Solutions that I've tried desperately to speed up the game:

#1. ReadyBoost. This seems to be the go to solution. It seemed to work but still significantly sluggish.

#2. Closed all running programs in the background. There are literally no programs running in the background as I play Aveyond 4. I even resorted to turning off the internet connection just to make sure that no programs are running in the background.

#3. Turned off Graphics and Audio Effects.

#4. I even resorted to using the Speedhack feature of CheatEngine 6.4 to speed the game up (which I know is heavily disapproved of here. I'm desperate, give me a break).

I purposely waited for 3 months plus to download and play this game because in my experience it's ample time for all bugs and issues like this have been ironed out. Been a solid gamer of your games since Ahriman's Prophecy, this is the only time I've encountered this problem.

To conclude, if you're an RPG gamer that one of his/her pet peeves is the slow character's walking speed, I suggest you'll just have to stay away, or like me, wait for another couple of months for this to be solved. (hopefully....)

4. Performance - Here's where I have the most issue. The more polished graphics makes the game a lot heavier to run, so there's a lot of lags, especially when climbing up/down ladders and walking across bridges. The fact that there's no feature to boost the movement speed (like the speed crystal) and the inconvenient portal system (the mist realm, as opposed to the mule express and magic mirror in the previous games) makes this problem all the more glaring. Also, this creates a weird anachronism with the universe's timeline - one would think that the technology for travel would improve with time, instead of getting worse.

Most of my issues with it, I see have already been mentioned-ie-some lagging in the game, slow pace of walking,

Also, as noted by another player "The one thing that really ruined the game's enjoyment for me was getting from place to place. It was simply too complicated and burdensome.... I'm having trouble forcing myself to finish the game and am fairly positive I won't be replaying it."

I can't say it's the worst but not the best game either. My main issues is that in some locations the walking seemed a little slow and sometimes a little jerky and the transportation system through the mist is a might confusing.

UI: I had difficulties in this department. I was playing on my laptop and it had to be plugged in while I play this game; otherwise, the game is laggy and slow.

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I see that Bleepyh has used my comment about speed in his post. I don't want my comment to be taken out of context, and want to say that I had no lagging problems in the game. I only said that I would have liked to see my characters move a little faster than they did, but there was no lagging. There is a difference between lagging and characters just being able to walk in "walking mode" - it's the best way I can explain it.

To sum it up, there was no lagging whatsoever in my game. Am using a Sony Vaio Win7, 64-bit laptop that is about 5 years old.

Edited to add: I see that Bleepyh has taken my comment out of his post. Thank you.

Edited April 17, 2016 by Vald

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I have played every Aveyond game and like most of the fans of this game, I waited for years for Aveyond 4 to come out. I think that this is a really good game, but for me it did not have the feel of a Amaranth Aveyond game. This felt like to me more of a John Wizard game with too many puzzles. I think the difference is that with John Wizard game you have to solve puzzles in order to reach your goals, but with Aveyond games the games feels as if they just flow better without all the complicated puzzles. Again this is a good game, but it feels like it is a stand alone game and it shouldn't have been labeled as the next Aveyond game. I am looking forward to the next Aveyond and hopefully it goes back to the success that made me purchase all the previous games. If i want a John Wizard game, i will buy a John Wizard game, but I am more of a fan of the classic Aveyond games.

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The opening on how minions were tricked by heroes is so funny, above all those in hanged nests. It’s a good overview of the originality.I love the landscapes, Tor cowboy city, Windshire sunflowers, the stake, the stunning windmill! Halaina is huge, surprising they have an illegal type zone. It’s useless soldiers prevent black market at day as it’s done at night. Delamere is my fav.Character art is great, the face expressions showing Hi’beru wise and teasing, Phye’s anger crackled face, Myst’s teasing smile, Ingrid’s predatory smile Ha! Ha! Ha!, Boyle astonishment and frowning mouth. The very nice touch of sound effects of woods crackling, the cacophony of toads.Master tournament with chickens and the music reminds me of Aveyond 1, tough ones! It’s appropriate to use the same tune for the menu and the final battle.Fun: the Raven Lord carried by ravens, the crows to get rid of thorns is good.Myst looks adorable and she’s funny when she says “you can’t see me”. Hi’beru “you are dreaming, sorry to wake you”. The goblin king crashing down his ladder is hilarious. Some Robin customers words “I could harass my enemies writing/ I could steal unnoticed”. The prince who prefers to be a frog

Windshire: they are strong at punishment but are unable to chase away goblins to get back their crops. They are brutal at throwing a saviour in prison. Why did they not notice Boyle straight? Cos Boyle lost his frightening aura?The night watch: I loved to walk by night, different monsters, the secret plot from the bad night watch boss, is he so bad as, in the end, we see turning the squirrel into a werebeing was to prevent him from conquering the castle?Boyle is sexy and awful. He scorns the inhabitants of Wyrmwood who stopped to be dangerous apart from the witch sisters. His scorn for villains should please them as it’s their job to be hated! His relation with Fang is cute, they are accomplices. How he met and adopted Fang is sad and moving. Baal’s way to stuck Boyle with searching Fang as a diversion worked as he doesn’t want to save Myst’s brother. But he’ll behave as a hero and will confront Baal in the end. It’s a pain in the butt to play the hero to get his dog back, a pain also to hear he’s harmless from villagers. He was going to acknowledge feelings for Ingrid but she cut him short. He’s cold with Robin but will become his male model. He’s not assuming he’s saving the world once he got Fang back. Bad we don’t have infos at all on how Boyle climbed up the villains’ ladder. The family info is cool at the end, it encourages to check on the Pendragons.

Ingrid criticizes Boyle is it from love hate relationship? She feels ashamed he failed to rule the world, she who’s unable to have spells. Weird that unconditional love can break her curse. Hey she fears Boyle saying true feelings for her as it would show he’s not cursed!When Boyle says no man should be forced to marry, why does she say it’s the curse speaking? It’s an evident lie, the cursed won’t talk against it. When they were in cages by goblins, she was going to say he’s not cursed!She misjudges her sisters saying Lorelai is unpleasant and Jinx is the best approachable. She finds anyone irritating.

Rowen has a teasing look, she’s secretive. I wondered if we would take care of the boy’s nightmare in Delamere. It’s sweet to learn who he is. It’s adorable her mom chose to be cursed to go on adventure instead of her husband but it’s sad to prefer adventure to her son. She’s maternal though playing at the dungeon with him.Hercules is still stupid to make mistakes! He’s still admired by people. I’m astonished he convinced Qetesh about his feats. A numb demon for a zero hero? Qetesh is so self-assured he didn’t remember Myst got the stone ring!It’s weird to see a dragon weakened by humans and needs a dream healer to remove his sorrow.Robin is glad to meet his kidnappers! He’s naive he thinks Boyle is a true friend who sprang him up by love. He has a creepy smile. He’s tricked by Ingrid and Phye the same way, he’s blind to real feats.Phye I can’t distinguish his race, he’s kind of a dark elf with a Viking face, vampire fangs, he’s a bit dressed like Asterix with red clothes, he’s pink like a pig because of the scorching depths of fire, he’s rather dark pink for red from anger.Tor’s mayor believed Boyle wants to marry her by love as she said “I hate you at I want to rule Tor”.The king just cares of possessions like his daughter, they both consider the lover as a possession too. He’s lazy but when it comes to seduce Ingrid he accompanies them to the Shadow Isles.Why Jewel says “I had his betrothed skipped to Tor”, isn’t she the prince’s betrothed?Baal is pitiful, fat like a sumo with a small face and small ankles. Peacekeepers of the Shadow Isle make sure business is not disturbed, ironic for demons.Grunhilda not finding love with lumberjacks should learn beauty is not true love. The mirror found well her lover as the king is superficial and they both see each other as a trophy!It’s wrong that those who think have good intentions can cross the portal. The Oracle denies she let Hercules enter Aveyond, is she too old now? Aveyond allows Ingrid to curse, the laxism goes against priestesses speech.Priestesses propaganda is nonsense in Wyrmwood. The one in Halaina gives up soon empathy for demons. I agree that forgiveness allows misdeed if it’s so easy to confess. The question of evil as a choice or born with it is interesting, it’s clear in Wyrmwood they chose it. Amadeus being strict like “don’t question me” made me some doubts on him, he has bad intentions.Galahad is back, he releases his tension from his wife killing demons but he always gets back to her claws.

Seems only brave tough men have the gut to go to the depths of fire, it’s a bit surprising Rowen won’t go as she likes adventures. The crafting girl who’ll join Lorelai’s coven cares of being happy in what she does being real or not if Ingrid didn’t make her realise. Bad that some people live with lies.

I like “the Reluctant Hero” suits best Boyle. Hi’beru is a seducer.

Endings done If we choose Boyle, at Aveyond she’s determined to activate the curse cos he’s unbearable with a free mind but she cut him short if he speaks his feelings. Ingrid what’s up with you?If we let her a spinster, Boyle will find love from priestesses, such a good joke! (please tell me what is said at the 2 other weddings by Hi'beru and Phye Cliffhanger: Boyle is the son of a plot witch and a fool noble, when the mom’s plan was thwarted, they moved away from Thais.Gameplay:I was unable to fight the bear and went back to Tor, I have to remember of going back there and going on crusade to the Shadow Isles. It’s good to have 1 or 2 other directions to take care of later. I thought the exotic pet would be found on Crab Island until I’ve checked the guide when I needed to bring the pet NOW. The daughter said on a continent not an island. We have many quests to manage if we start Gingernut Forest before the blabbermouth potion. I had to find where the stuff to gather for the recipe is from the guide, it’s puzzling to be sure if the extracts are in Gingernut forest only or in all forests of the continent. The Vault’s cards was tricky when we had to remember an uncompleted house to go back once we got the missing card, hopefully the sentences with 3 subjects is easy to put the cards. For a few seconds I feared to not be able to press the lever on the right of the goodie cave.As I don’t want to replay, a player advised me to wait before the final place to save, to choose a coven and a bachelor. Somewhere before Daintree forest, I started to wish to do both choices.

1st playthrough: I did curses coven between Wind Tower and Snow Cave, with no bachelor, played in 40h 18. I was at level 55 for Hercules but I had to level up at Skull Mountain, a bit Shadow Isles and Snow cave to reach level 60-65. It’s good to remember the leather and diamonds sidequests as it’s not in the journal.2nd playthrough I load from before Hercules to get Boyle points. I notice Crab brings Boyle atk and def points. I got lazy to replay from the Snow Cave to get Hi’beru and Phye endings. Having done Curses coven with curse of death inefficient vs Hercules, I didn’t want to use others but I’ve done “transformation” to see the funny events.

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Wow, where to start. The Aveyond games have been near and dear to me for over half of my life now. And I'd been waiting for Aveyond 4 for five years, so obviously I had very high hopes for this game. In some ways I was a little disappointed, but despite its flaws (and my personal gripes), overall I found the game to be entertaining, funny, nostalgic, and overall I had a great experience playing.

(Some general/minor spoilers ahead)

Characters - With each game, the Aveyond series’ characters have gotten more development and interaction. Aveyond 4 followed that pattern and then some. All of the characters were fleshed out, likeable, and had their own arcs. Each one had real connections to the quest as opposed to just sort of…being there for the ride. Their dialogues were hilarious and believable. Boyle is my new favorite Aveyond protagonist. The most well done in this aspect out of all the Aveyonds, imo.

Plot - Deviance from the standard chosen-one-must-save-the-world storyline and an anti-villain protagonist definitely were a change from the previous games. On one hand, it was a refreshing change, and it makes the game more interesting and enjoyable for new players. Fantasy RPG tropes were still aplenty, but they were more often played for laughs or cleverly subverted. But I must admit that I missed the genuine epic feeling from previous games. The driving quest of Boyle saving Myst’s brother to get Fang back felt a bit contrived at the beginning (why was Boyle chosen in the first place?), and I still don’t understand why he didn’t just go home after he was able to get Fang back. I enjoyed the new take, but I still missed the elements that I loved from previous games so much.

Gameplay - The plot was more linear than previous games, even more so than Aveyond 3, which meant that there wasn’t really a time where you didn’t know where to go next. It was pretty much: complete this quest in this general area to be able to progress to the next area, then repeat. Once you got a ship there was only one place left to explore. I missed being able to branch out and figure out which new area to explore first, trying to find where the next daeva/nymph/quarter key is. But on the other hand, it made for a more cohesive story and less confusion on what to do next. Although, a more linear storyline means less flexibility for replay value, although there’s still lots to replay for (covens, attraction points, Cheekis, sidequests you may have missed).

Battle - The new battle system was so much more interesting and added a lot of variety to the often repetitive battles. Less mana to worry about (although in the case of Hi’Beru, I thought having mana would’ve been more useful) and more options for each character. Everyone had their special ability. And best of all, ALL of the characters were useful in battle and you were able to play as ALL of them at some point or another even if you didn’t have them in your main fighting party.

Art - At first I was thrown off by how different the graphics were from the previous Aveyond games. But as I progressed in the game, I grew to appreciate the more polished tilesets, lovely menu system, and beautiful full-body character art. I did think the maps were more generic than before, and missed the more fantastical elements, e.g. giant mushrooms, purple foliage, etc..

Music - I must admit that this aspect was a bit of a letdown for me. The music was what drew me into the first Aveyond game I played, and it’s where the series really shines imo. I still listen to the Aveyond music whenever I want to study or relax (in fact, I’m listening right now!) because Aaron’s pieces are so beautiful and moving, but at the same time they don’t wear on your ears after hours of listening to them. Aveyond 4’s soundtrack, while pleasant to listen to (and I especially enjoyed Boyle’s theme, probably my favorite new piece), didn’t capture me with the same enchanting factor. The soundtrack was less extensive - no separate final boss music, Myst’s theme was reused for the Mist Realm, world map, and the ship, and the same two or three dungeon tracks were used multiple times. I really wanted to hear Field of Wind again if nothing else, and I was looking forward to hearing the final boss music.

(Although, in the music folder for the game, I found several soundtracks that weren’t actually used - two of them sounded like perfect final boss music - perhaps the first for Boyle’s face-off, and the second for the full-party battle? Amanda whyyyy didn’t you use these pieces in the game? L )

Performance - The game was a little buggy. I ran into some lag, and a number of glitches. They didn’t drastically affect gameplay, but an RPG Maker game shouldn’t run this poorly. I ran into some glitches that are still in the Bigfish Games version but I understand have been corrected in Amaranthia’s download, but once or twice I almost had to restart the whole thing. These are the types of things that should be squashed in beta testing so they don’t ruin the game if the player decides to download from another portal.

Continuity - This was the biggest issue for me. “Hercules”, at the end of TDP, was revealed to be darkling in disguise. So why was the apparently human Hercules in Aveyond 4 still a fail!Hercules? And I understand that Aveyond 4 was supposed to be in a different part of Aia, but aside from the Dream Realm (which everyone seems to forget is one of the only recurring places that has been in all of the Aveyonds so far, haha) we didn’t get to see any of the old locations! Where was Thais? What about the Underworld? Bogwood? Aside from that, the world of Aia from Aveyond 4 didn’t feel like the same world from the other games. The mocking tone towards the Aveyond location kind of spoiled how sacred it was supposed to be in previous games, I dunno. The feel was very different, with it being a John Wizard collab and having new composers and graphics, but also in some other intangible way that I’m having a very hard time explaining.

Other random things that I didn’t like or missed (ending spoilers):

- I really wanted to get a dragon L

- Why was there no option to buy a house? That person in Ulrock who said there’s a perfect space to carve out more walls would’ve been a perfect opportunity! This party would’ve had hilarious interaction in a house.

- A good healer. Hi’Beru could only have two skills at a time, instead of being able to learn from books like Iya or Lydia. And the last two books he got didn’t even provide him with healing spells. No mass healing, sleep/silence, out-of-battle healing, or revive skill. I ended up using Myst and the Friendship Song for healing instead.

- The ending. It felt incomplete imo - after the final battle that was it and the game was over.

- Boyle and Ingrid’s marriage, if you chose the villainous love potion. No mention of how Boyle and Ingrid actually chose to marry, we didn’t get to see the love potion administered, that ending felt kind of lacking to me. I was expecting something more. (My headcanon for this ending is that the curse was broken all along because of Fang’s unconditional love, and Boyle knew it all along, but he went and married Ingrid because of his own choise XP)

- The attraction points. Ingrid and Hi’Beru were kinda cute, but Ingrid barely interacted with Phye lmao. I was expecting having an option to get Robin and Myst married - maybe more marriage options will be added in the next version? And for the first half of the game I thought there would be an option for Myst to be able to steal Boyle from Ingrid, until I looked at the forums and realized that wasn’t possible -.-

- What was Boyle’s Revenge, exactly? And how on earth was it completed by the end of the game, lmao. When I saw that Boyle was a Pendragon I really thought the solution to that quest would be that he goes to Thais and claims the throne and rules the “world” via ruling Thais (in fact that’s kind of my headcanon)… but instead he just goes back to Wyrmwood?

- There weren’t as many continents and areas to explore

- No title art ;-;

And now for the things I LOVED (ending on a positive note after all that criticism )

- The Night Watch was so much fun. I only played it at night just to get into the right mood, actually I loved Robin and Myst as a team and I loved the quests and the subplot with the Werebear and the militant squirrels. I almost cried when I thought Banana Boy had died ;-;

- The meta. Oh goodness, all the fourth-wall leaning was hilarious. The beta testers as Night Watchers, the title’s of Boyle’s book at the end being actual suggested game titles, the profile menu reference from Banana Boy, the Hetalia and other anime characters’ sprites. I really appreciate well done meta-ness.

- The tournament! I loved the references to the first three Aveyonds’ parties and monsters and battle themes. Plus, the tournament itself was really fun.

- The game was very self-aware both in how genre savvy it was, and in references to the previous Aveyond games. I liked how it referenced 1, 2, and 3 pretty much equally.

- Cameos from Tei’jal and Galahad, the Elder Oak, and of course the squirrels.

- The journal was more organized, since we were able to see the location of quests and how many of the requirements were already fulfilled if it was a collection quest.

- The running joke of two-card flip was hilarious XD

- Again, the character interaction was great and I loved how each of them got their moment to shine. The cast is probably my new favorite. I wish we had this kind of full-party interaction between the Aveyond 1 & 2 casts ahhh

- Boyle and Ingrid. Although I complained about their ending before, I actually really enjoyed their dynamic as friends and as a couple. They were a better take on Tei/Galahad imo because they had the bickering dynamic but there was more consent on Boyle’s part and they seemed to really care for one another

- The Myst realm theme incorporated the Sadness theme from Aveyond 2 which is one of my favorite pieces of the whole series. I teared up when I realized ;v;

Overall - As you can see I have a lot of feelings to express about the game - I’m actually supposed to be writing a four-page paper right now, and instead I’m writing a four-page review of Aveyond 4. Some of them may be critical, but that’s only because I have so much love for this series. I will definitely give this a replay in the future and I’ll be looking forward for the game to grow on me more J But for now, I’m off to replay Aveyond 1, the one that started it all

Hours clocked: ~36

Final level: mid 50s - low 60s

Party: Boyle, Rowen, Robin, and Myst (although for most of the game, I used Ingrid in place of Rowen)

Ending: Boyle and Ingrid, although when I’m not so busy with final projects I’m going to reload my save before the final battle and see the bachelorette ending, which I’ve heard is hilarious.

Rating: Green. I definitely recommend buying the game! Not the my overall favorite Aveyond, but definitely the most original and the one I’d recommend to new players that might be skeptical of trying out the series.